MANHATTAN PREP Sentence Correction GMAT Strategy Guide This essential guide takes the guesswork out of grammar by presenting all of the major grammatical principles and minor grammatical points known to be tested on the GMAT Do not be caught relying only on your ear; master the rules for correcting every GMAT sentence guide Sentence Correction GMAT Strategy Guide, Sixth Edition 10-digit International Standard Book Number: 1-941234-07-0 13-digit International Standard Book Number: 978-1-941234-07-5 eISBN: 978-1-941234-28-0 Copyright © 2014 MG Prep, Inc ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or web distribution—without the prior written permission of the publisher, MG Prep, Inc Note: GMAT, Graduate Management Admission Test, Graduate Management Admission Council, and GMAC are all registered trademarks of the Graduate Management Admission Council, which neither sponsors nor is affiliated in any way with this product Layout Design: Dan McNaney and Cathy Huang Cover Design: Dan McNaney and Frank Callaghan Cover Photography: Alli Ugosoli INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE SERIES GMAT Roadmap Number Properties (ISBN: 978-1-941234-09-9) (ISBN: 978-1-941234-05-1) Fractions, Decimals, & Percents Critical Reasoning (ISBN: 978-1-941234-01-3) (ISBN: 978-1-941234-02-0) Algebra Reading Comprehension (ISBN: 978-1-941234-00-6) (ISBN: 978-1-941234-06-8) Word Problems Sentence Correction (ISBN: 978-1-941234-08-2) (ISBN: 978-1-941234-07-5) Geometry Integrated Reasoning & Essay (ISBN: 978-1-941234-03-7) (ISBN: 978-1-941234-04-4) SUPPLEMENTAL GUIDE SERIES Math GMAT Supplement Guides Verbal GMAT Supplement Guides Foundations of GMAT Math Foundations of GMAT Verbal (ISBN: 978-1-935707-59-2) (ISBN: 978-1-935707-01-9) Advanced GMAT Quant (ISBN: 978-1-935707-15-8) Official Guide Companion for Sentence Correction Official Guide Companion (ISBN: 978-1-937707-41-5) (ISBN: 978-0-984178-01-8) December 2, 2014 Dear Student, Thank you for picking up a copy of Sentence Correction I hope this book gives you just the guidance you need to get the most out of your GMAT studies A great number of people were involved in the creation of the book you are holding First and foremost is Zeke Vanderhoek, the founder of Manhattan Prep Zeke was a lone tutor in New York City when he started the company in 2000 Now, well over a decade later, the company contributes to the successes of thousands of students around the globe every year Our Manhattan Prep Strategy Guides are based on the continuing experiences of our instructors and students The overall vision of the sixth edition of the GMAT guides was developed by Stacey Koprince, Whitney Garner, and Dave Mahler over the course of many months; Stacey and Dave then led the execution of that vision as the primary author and editor, respectively, of this book Numerous other instructors made contributions large and small, but I'd like to send particular thanks to Josh Braslow, Kim Cabot, Dmitry Farber, Ron Purewal, Emily Meredith Sledge, and Ryan Starr Dan McNaney and Cathy Huang provided design and layout expertise as Dan managed book production, while Liz Krisher made sure that all the moving pieces, both inside and outside of our company, came together at just the right time Finally, we are indebted to all of the Manhattan Prep students who have given us feedback over the years This book wouldn't be half of what it is without your voice At Manhattan Prep, we aspire to provide the best instructors and resources possible, and we hope that you will find our commitment manifest in this book We strive to keep our books free of errors, but if you think we've goofed, please post to manhattanprep.com/GMAT/errata If you have any questions or comments in general, please email our Student Services team at gmat@manhattanprep.com Or give us a shout at 212-721-7400 (or 800-576-4628 in the United States or Canada) I look forward to hearing from you Thanks again, and best of luck preparing for the GMAT! Sincerely, Chris Ryan Vice President of Academics Manhattan Prep www.manhattanprep.com/gmat 138 West 25th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001 Tel: 212721-7400 Fax: 646-514-7425 Indirect Object The noun that expresses the recipient or the beneficiary of some action Can be a pronoun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause I gave him the lamp She found the man a good book Infinitive The bare form of the verb plus the marker to Used as a noun or as a modifier within a sentence I prefer to read novels She drove many miles to see her uncle -ing Form The bare form of the verb plus the ending -ing When used as a noun, the -ing form is called a gerund When used as a modifier or as part of the progressive tense, the -ing form is called a present participle Present participle (part of verb): I am eating an apple Gerund (noun): Eating an apple is good for you Present participle (noun modifier): The man eating an apple is my friend Present participle (verb modifier): I sat on the porch, eating an apple Intransitive Verb A verb that does not take a direct object Intransitive verbs cannot be put in the passive voice I went to the library The driver swerved (Intransitive verb -ing forms followed by nouns are usually adjectives: The swerving driver wound up on the sidewalk.) Linking Verb A verb that expresses what a subject is, rather than what it does The most important linking verb is to be Main Clause A clause that can stand alone as a grammatical sentence A main clause contains its own subject and verb, and is not introduced by a subordinator Also known as an Independent Clause I prefer to read novels While eating lunch, she finished reading the report Marker Words that serve as clues that the GMAT is testing a particular issue For example, and is a parallelism marker and which is a modifier marker Middleman Words that the GMAT inserts between the subject and the verb to hide the subject Middlemen are usually modifiers of various types Misplaced Modifier A noun modifier that is not positioned next to the noun it needs to describe in the sentence Misplaced modifiers are incorrect See Modifier I collapsed onto the sofa exhausted by a long day of work (The modifier exhausted by a long day of work refers to sofa, but a sofa can't be exhausted The modifier needs to be placed as close as possible to the noun it modifies: Exhausted by a long day of work, I collapsed on the sofa.) Modal Helping Verb See Helping Verb Modifier Words, phrases or clauses that describe other parts of the sentence Noun modifiers modify nouns Adverbial modifiers modify anything other than nouns (verbs, clauses, adjectives, etc.) Mood The form of the verb that indicates the attitude of the speaker toward the action Indicative: I drive fast cars We drove to Las Vegas Imperative: Drive three blocks and turn left Command Subjunctive: I suggested that he drive three blocks Hypothetical Subjunctive: If he drove three blocks, he would see us Nonessential Modifier A modifier that provides extra information If this modifier were removed from the sentence, the core meaning of the sentence would still make sense Use commas to separate a nonessential modifier from the modified noun See Modifier I want to sell this beat-up old car, which my sister drove to the city Noun A word that means a thing or a person Nouns can be the subject of a verb, the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition Nouns can be modified by an adjective or another noun modifier Noun-Adjective A noun that is placed in front of another noun and that functions as an adjective A government survey; the stone wall (A government survey is a type of survey; a stone wall is a type of wall.) Noun Clause A subordinate clause (with its own subject and verb) that acts as a noun in the sentence That is, it is the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition Led by relative pronouns which, what, when, why, whether, or that I care about what he thinks Whether I stay or go is unimportant I believe that you are right Noun Modifier A word, phrase, or clause that describes a noun Adjective: This big window needs to be replaced Past participle: Broken in the storm, this window needs to be replaced Present participle: The window rattling against the sill needs to be replaced Prepositional phrase: The window on the right needs to be replaced Appositive: This window, an original installation, needs to be replaced Infinitive: The window to replace is on the second floor Relative clause: The window that needs to be replaced has a missing pane Noun Phrase A phrase that acts as a noun in the sentence A noun phrase typically consists of a noun and its modifiers A new government survey of taxpayers is planned (The subject of the sentence is the noun phrase consisting of the noun survey and its modifiers: a, new, government, of taxpayers.) Object Case The form of a pronoun used as the object of a verb or of a preposition Nouns not change form in the object case See Case Parallel Element A part of a sentence made parallel to another part or parts of the sentence through the use of parallel markers We will invite both his friends and her family Parallel Marker The words that link or contrast parts of a sentence, forcing them to be parallel We will invite both his friends and her family Parallelism Category A type of word, phrase, or clause Something in one parallelism category can be made parallel to something else of the same type, but it should not be made parallel to anything in another category Concrete nouns: I like to eat peanut butter and ice cream Action nouns and complex gerunds: I like to watch the release of the doves and the changing of the guard Simple gerunds: I like eating ice cream and watching birds Working verbs: I like ice cream but hate sorbet Infinitives: I like to eat ice cream and to watch birds Adjectives and participles: I like ice cream, either frozen or warm Clauses: She knows that I like ice cream and that I hate sorbet Participle One of two kinds of words derived from verbs Present participles typically end in -ing and can be used as a verb, a noun, a noun modifier, or a verb modifier Present participles typically indicate ongoing action (though not necessarily in the present) Past participles typically end in -ed and can be used as a verb or a modifier Past participles tend to indicate a completed action relative to the given time frame in the sentence Present Participle: hiking, growing, doing She will be hiking next week Studying for the GMAT is fun He slipped on the ice, injuring his ankle Past Participle: hiked, grown, done The tires will be punctured The tires were punctured Punctured by a nail, the tire slowly deflated Parts of Speech The basic kinds of words A word's part of speech is determined both by what the word means and by what role or roles the word can play in a sentence Noun: peanut, lake, vacuum, considerations, opportunity Verb: swim, proceed, execute, went, should Adjective: wonderful, blue, the, helpful Adverb: slowly, very, graciously Preposition: of, for, by, with, through, during, in, on Conjunction: and, but, or, although because Passive Voice The form of a verb in which the subject is receiving the action expressed by the verb The driver was thrown from the car The crystal vases have been broken by the thieves Past Participle The participle used in perfect tenses and passive voice A past participle may also be used as an adjective Past participles tend to indicate completed action, although not necessarily in the past (relative to now) The tires will be punctured They have broken the lamp A frozen lake Regular past participles are formed by adding -d or -ed to the base form of the verb Many irregular past participles are listed below, together with irregular past tense forms Sometimes the past tense form and the past participle are identical Non-native English speakers should study this list Native English speakers likely already know most or all of these forms Past Perfect Tense The form of a verb that expresses action that takes place before another past action or time The past perfect tense is formed with the verb had and the past participle The officer said that the driver had swerved By 2005, she had visited India three times Past Tense The form of a verb that expresses action in the past See Tense The driver swerved The tires were punctured They broke the lamp (Common irregular past tense forms are listed under the entry for Past Participles.) Person Indicates whether the word refers to the speaker or writer (first person), the listener or reader (second person), or someone/something else (third person) Personal pronouns are marked for person Present tense verbs in the third person singular add an -s: the doctor writes First person: I, me, my, we, us, our Second person: you, your Third person: she, he, it, its, they, them, their Phrase A group of words that has a particular grammatical role in the sentence The type of phrase is often determined by one main word within the phrase A phrase can contain other phrases For instance, a noun phrase can contain a prepositional phrase Noun phrase: The short chapter at the end of the book is important Verb phrase: The computer must have been broken in the move Adjective phrase: The employee most reluctant to volunteer was chosen Prepositional phrase: The wolf in the cage has woken up Plural A category of number that indicates more than one Nouns, pronouns, and verbs can be made plural See Singular Many dogs are barking; they are keeping me awake Possessive Case The form of a pronoun or a noun that owns another noun In possessive case, nouns add -’s or -s’ See Case Preposition A word that indicates a relationship between the object (usually a noun) and something else in the sentence In some cases, prepositions can consist of more than one word of, in, to, for, with, on, by, at, from, as, into, about, like, after, between, through, over, against, under, out of, next to, upon Prepositional Phrase A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and an object (a noun) The preposition indicates a relationship between that object and something else in the sentence I would like a drink of water (Of is the preposition; of water modifies drink.) The man in the gray suit is the CEO (In is the preposition; in the gray suit modifies man) Present Participle The participle used in progressive tenses A present participle may also be used as a noun, a noun modifier, or a verb modifier Present participles tend to indicate ongoing action, although not necessarily at the present moment To form a present participle, add -ing to the base form of the verb, possibly doubling the last consonant The tires were rolling She jumped into the swimming pool Hiking is great Present Perfect Tense The form of a verb that expresses action that began in the past and continues to the present or whose effect continues to the present The present perfect tense is formed with the verb has or have and the past participle The tires have been punctured (The tires were punctured in the past, and it is still true in the present that they were punctured.) You have broken my lamp! (The lamp was broken in the past, and it is still broken now.) Present Tense The form of a verb that expresses action in the present The simple present (nonprogressive) often indicates general truths See Tense The driver swerves The tires are on the car They speak English Primary Helping Verb See Helping Verb Progressive Tense The form of a verb that expresses ongoing action in the past, present, or future See Tense The driver is swerving The tires were rolling They will be running Pronoun A pronoun stands in for another noun elsewhere in the sentence or for an implied noun The noun is called the antecedent For example, in the sentence, “When Amy fell, she hurt her knee,” the pronouns she and her refer to the antecedent Amy When it started to rain, the tourists pltabuled out their umbrellas (Their refers to tourists.) The term bibliophile refers to someone who loves books (Someone is a pronoun but does not need to have a specific antecedent; who refers to someone.) Relative Clause A subordinate clause headed by a relative pronoun Relative clauses may act as noun modifiers or, more infrequently, as nouns The professor who spoke is my mother What you see is what you get Relative Pronoun A pronoun that connects a subordinate clause to a sentence The relative pronoun plays a grammatical role in the subordinate clause (e.g., subject, verb object, or prepositional object) If the relative clause is a noun modifier, the relative pronoun also refers to the modified noun If the relative clause is a noun clause, then the relative pronoun does not refer to a noun outside the relative clause The professor who spoke is my mother (The relative pronoun who is the subject of the clause who spoke Who also refers to professor, the noun modified by the clause who spoke.) What you see is a disaster waiting to happen (The relative pronoun what is the object of the clause what you see What does not refer to a noun outside the clause; rather, the clause what you see is the subject of the sentence.) Reporting Verb A verb, such as indicate, claim, announce, or report, that in fact reports or otherwise includes a thought or belief A reporting verb should be followed by that on the GMAT The survey indicates that CFOs are feeling pessimistic Run-on Sentence A sentence incorrectly formed out of two main clauses joined without proper punctuation or a proper connecting word, such as a coordinator or subordinator Also called a comma-splice The film was great, I want to see it again (This sentence could be fixed with a semicolon as follows: The film was great; I want to see it again Alternatively, the two clauses could be joined by a coordinating conjunction: The film was great and I want to see it again Finally, one of the clauses could be made into a subordinate clause: Because the film was great, I want to see it again.) SANAM Pronouns An indefinite pronoun that can be either singular or plural, depending on the object of the of-phrase that follows The SANAM pronouns are some, any, none, all, more/most Some of the milk has gone bad Some of the children are angry Sentence A complete grammatical utterance Sentences contain a subject and a verb in a main clause Some sentences contain two main clauses linked by a coordinating conjunction, such as and Other sentences contain subordinate clauses tied to the main clause in some way My boss is angry (This sentence contains one main clause The subject is boss; the verb is is.) He read my blog, and he saw the photos that I posted (This sentence contains two main clauses linked by and In the first main clause, the subject is he, the verb is read In the second main clause, the subject is he, the verb is saw There is also a subordinate clause, that I posted, led by the relative pronoun that.) Simple Gerund A gerund is an -ing form of a verb that functions as a noun A simple gerund typically does not include an article or something similar (as a complex gerund does) Swimming is fun She likes running and hiking (In general, simple gerunds should not be put in parallel with action nouns Complex gerunds can be put in parallel with action nouns See Complex Gerund.) Singular A category of number that indicates one Nouns, pronouns, and verbs can be made singular See Plural A dog is barking; it is keeping me awake Split Differences in the answer choices When working on a Sentence Completion problem, compare the answers to find splits; these differences will help you to determine what the problem is testing State Verb A verb that expresses a condition of the subject, rather than an action that the subject performs State verbs are rarely used in progressive tenses Her assistant knows Russian I love chocolate This word means “hello.” Subgroup Modifier A type of modifier that describes a smaller subset within the group expressed by the modified noun French wines, many of which I have tasted, are superb Subject The noun or pronoun that goes with the verb and that is required in every sentence The subject performs the action expressed by an active-voice verb; in contrast, the subject receives the action expressed by a passive-voice verb The subject and the verb must agree in number and in person The market closed She is considering a new job They have been seen Subjunctive Mood One of two verb forms indicating desires, suggestions, or unreal or unlikely conditions Command subjunctive: She requested that he stop the car Hypothetical subjunctive: If he were in charge, he would help us Subordinate Clause A clause that cannot stand alone without a main or independent clause A subordinate clause is led by a subordinator Also known as a dependent clause See Clause Her dog, which is brown, is friendly Although he barely studied, he scored well on the test Subordinator A word that creates a subordinate clause Relative pronoun: which, that, who, whose, whom, what Subordinating conjunction: although, because, while, whereas Superlative Form Form of adjectives and adverbs used to compare three or more things or people The reference group may be implied Regular superlative forms are either the base word plus -est (if the base is short, e.g., greenest) or the base word preceded by most (most intelligent) Irregulars are listed below: Adjective or Adverb Superlative good/well bad/badly much, many little far best worst most least farthest, furthest Tense The form of the verb that indicates the time of the action (relative to the present time) The completed or ongoing nature of the action may also be indicated Examples: Present: She speaks French Past: She spoke French Future: She will speak French Present progressive: She is speaking French Past progressive: She was speaking French Future progressive: She will be speaking French Present perfect: She has spoken French Past perfect: She had spoken French That Clause A clause that begins with the word that Relative clause: The suggestion that he made is bad (The clause that he made modifies suggestion That is the object of the clause In other words, he made that = the suggestion.) Subordinate clause: He suggested that the world is flat (The clause that the world is flat is the object of the verb suggested.) Subordinate clause: The suggestion that the world is flat is bad (The clause that the world is flat modifies suggestion However, that is not the object of the clause, nor is it the subject Rather, that provides a way for the idea in the sentence the world is flat to be linked to the suggestion.) Transitive Verb A verb that takes a direct object Transitive verbs can usually be put in the passive voice, which turns the object into the subject The agent observed the driver The driver was observed by the agent (Transitive verb -ing forms followed by nouns are usually simple gerund phrases: The agent was paid for observing the driver Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive In particular, verbs that indicate changes of state can be either: The lamp broke I broke the lamp This duality means that some -ing forms in isolation can be ambiguous The phrase melting snow could mean “the act of causing snow to melt” or “snow that is melting.” Use context to resolve the ambiguity.) Uncountable Noun A noun that cannot be counted in English For instance, you cannot say one patience, two patiences, three patiences Most uncountable nouns exist only in the singular form and cannot be made plural patience, furniture, milk, information, rice, chemistry Verb The word or words that express the action of the sentence The verb indicates the time of the action (tense), the attitude of the speaker (mood), and the role of the subject (voice) The verb may also reflect the number and person of the subject Every sentence must have a verb Verbal A word or phrase that is derived from a verb and that functions as a different part of speech in the sentence: as a noun, as an adjective (noun modifier), or as an adverb (verb modifier) Infinitive: He likes to walk to the store Gerund: I enjoy walking Present participle: The man walking toward us is my father Past participle: The facts given in the case are clear Voice The form of the verb that indicates the role of the subject as performer of the action (active voice) or recipient of the action (passive voice) Active voice: She threw the ball Passive voice: The ball was thrown by her Warmup Words that the GMAT inserts at the beginning of the sentence to hide the subject in question Warmups are either modifiers of various types or “frame sentences” (that is, you really care about the subject of a subordinate clause, not the subject of the main clause) Working Verb A verb that could be the main verb of a grammatical sentence A working verb shows tense, mood, and voice, as well as number and person in some circumstances The use of this term helps to distinguish working verbs from verbals, which cannot by themselves be the main verb of a sentence ... Companion for Sentence Correction Official Guide Companion (ISBN: 978-1-937707-41-5) (ISBN: 978-0-984178-01-8) December 2, 2014 Dear Student, Thank you for picking up a copy of Sentence Correction. .. Better at the SC Process Chapter The SC Process Sentence Correction (SC) is one of three question types found in the Verbal section of the GMAT Sentence Correction tests your mastery of both grammar... Millie's? Someone else's? The sentence is unclear What does the William Pereira sentence say? The sentence begins with a contrast word (although), so make sure the rest of the sentence does convey a